Blog: The Case for Watson

In January 1891, the first Sherlock Holmes short story, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” appeared in London’s monthly Strand magazine. The opener: “To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman.” quickly drew thousands of readers, far exceeding the expectations of both the publisher and author, Arthur Conan Doyle. The instant popularity launched the huge and diverse mystery genre we have today.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson had two beginnings. The first was the publication of the novel “A Study in Scarlet” in 1887, accomplished after repeated rejections. It drew modest success prompting a second novel, “The Sign of Four,” published in 1890, again to modest success. Shortly afterwards Doyle came across a new magazine called the Strand, aimed for London’s growing middle-class. He felt the Holmes character could be adapted to a short story format, little knowing what lay ahead.

One survey I came across a few years ago placed Sherlock Holmes as the third most recognized character in all of literature, preceded only by Robinson Crusoe (second) and Hamlet (first). Surveys, like opinions, differ, but it certainly is a fact that his name has worldwide recognition.

Throughout, though the two are inseparable, Dr. Watson has gotten short shrift. Indeed, in the original illustrations done for the Strand stories by Sidney Paget, they bear strong physical similarities. Both Holmes and Watson are about the same age and height, and dress alike. The differences are that Watson’s hair is lighter, he sports a mustache and his demeanor is relaxed. Holmes is depicted with a fierce look, and a leaner, more aggressive stance and attitude.

The B films made from 1939 to 1945 had Watson played as a boob by Nigel Bruce. This interpretation, seen by millions, was totally out of keeping with the stories, novels and theatrical plays made beforehand. Ironically, Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes shines through to this day as the benchmark characterization.

In the early 1990s, Granada Television and the BBC brought forth a television version that starred Jeremy Brett as Holmes and Edward Hardwicke as Watson. With superior production, Brett played Holmes as loud, sneering and boisterous while Hardwicke’s Watson was that of amiable invisibility. Instead of the dumb stooge of the movies, Watson was shown as an inferior of unobtrusive sensibility.

I’ll pass on the recent movie and PBS series.

Let us not forget that in almost all of the stories it is through Watson’s eyes that we see Holmes, and everything else for that matter! His narration includes lucid commentaries about nature, the capricious ways of fortune, the artifice of the cities, and many a human quandary. And there are moments when he shows a temper, which Holmes is quick to mollify. In that vein, recall that in the series Watson begins as an army assistant surgeon, having served Queen and country in Afghanistan (the famous Jezail bullet in his shoulder). In the few stories when a gun is needed, it is Watson, not Holmes, who carries it. Further, Watson is never a tag-along. Invariably, Holmes insists he join in the adventure at hand. For certain, Holmes’s methods fool him, but they fool us all! The famous “Come, Watson come. The game is afoot.” is spoken to a man of substance, trusted by Holmes as no other.

Whatever fame Sherlock Holmes enjoys as a single character, the pair—Watson and Holmes together—stands with few equals in celebrity (Jekyll and Hyde, Hansel and Gretel, Romeo and Juliet, perhaps a few more). Watson is Holmes’s only friend, and throughout the 56 stories and four novels the two share the English paradigm of friendship among men who have been through many a challenge.

Note that the London police force was created in 1829, only a few decades before the appearance of Sherlock. The organizational and financial issues about who covers what, pay, funding and setting criteria for something new and untried must have been gargantuan. There were those who were wary that a police force was just another form of the military, the reason why they were dressed in blue, to set them apart from the army’s red. Even in the earliest years, there were instances of drunkenness, bribery and the other negatives trumpeted daily on television news. (If there was ever a match it is anti-social activity and television.) It wasn’t until 1901 that a fingerprint bureau was established in London, though Holmes’s methods of examining cigarette ashes, footprints, ink stains and related more than compensated, predating the forensics of today.

To conclude, almost all the world knows about Sherlock Holmes, if only in name. Of Dr. Watson, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s self-description comes to mind: “I may not have been great, but I was first class second class.”